Makefile for LaTeX

This is a GNU Makefile for typesetting LaTeX2e documents. Expected to work with TeX Live on Linux and similar systems, e.g., on macOS or Cygwin. Just download a single Makefile and put it in your directory containing LaTeX source files. Running make will generate PDF files for your documents.

Features

• Only a single file (Makefile) distributed under the MIT License. Just put it into your directory.
• Automatic detection of LaTeX source files. Just type make and then the Makefile knows what to do.
• Dependency tracking.
• Handling BibTeX, MakeIndex, glossaries and axodraw2.
• Partial support for biber, bib2gls and sortref.
• Colorized output.
• Highly customizable by optional user configuration files (latex.mk files).
• Placing intermediate files into a directory (BUILDDIR variable).
• Latexdiff between Git revisions (DIFF variable).
• Linting (make lint). ChkTeX, GNU Aspell, Hunspell, textlint and RedPen have built-in support.
• Creating tar-gzipped source files for arXiv submission (make dist).
• Watching source files to automatically typeset documents when they are modified (make watch).

Getting started

Download Makefile via this link in your browser or by using curl:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tueda/makefile4latex/v0.9.1/Makefile

and put it into a directory that contains LaTeX files. Then just type:

make

See also the Wiki page for other ways to start.

Targets

• all (default): Build all documents in the current directory.
• all-recursive: Build all documents in the source tree.
• dvi, ps, pdf, eps, svg, jpg, png: Build all documents with the specified file format in the current directory.
• help: Show help message.
• clean: Delete all files created by running make.
• mostlyclean: Delete only intermediate files created by running make.
• lint: Run linters for source files in the current directory.
• dist: Create tar-gzipped archives for arXiv submission.
• watch: Watch the changes and automatically rebuild documents in the current directory.
• upgrade: Upgrade the setup. For a Git repository, if there is no .gitignore file, it installs the default .gitignore. (Be careful not to overwrite any local changes!)

It is also possible to make each target file. For example, make foo.pdf tries to generate the pdf file from foo.tex.

Variables

• TOOLCHAIN: Control how PDF files are generated from LaTeX files. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files.

  • latex: Alias to latex_dvips.
  • latex_dvips: Use latex --> dvips --> ps2pdf.
  • latex_dvipdf: Use latex --> dvipdf.
  • platex: Alias to platex_dvips.
  • platex_dvips: Use platex --> dvips --> ps2pdf.
  • platex_dvipdfmx: Use platex --> dvipdfmx.
  • uplatex: Alias to uplatex_dvips.
  • uplatex_dvips: Use uplatex --> dvips --> ps2pdf.
  • uplatex_dvipdfmx: Use uplatex --> dvipdfmx.
  • pdflatex (default): Use pdflatex.
  • xelatex: Use xelatex.
  • lualatex: Use lualatex.
  • luajitlatex: Use luajitlatex.

• BUILDDIR: Place intermediate files into BUILDDIR. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files. It is assumed that the -output-directory=DIR option is available in the LaTeX distribution you are using (which is true in TeX Live.) Note that some (La)TeX packages may not follow this option and may generate some files in the working directory, or may not correctly work in the worst case.

• DIFF: Enable the Git-latexdiff mode. Given on the command line only. Requires latexdiff and latexpand. The DIFF variable specifies a Git revision for which a latexdiff with the working tree is performed, e.g., make DIFF=HEAD^. The resultant document has a postfix -diff like foo-diff.pdf. It is also possible to make a latexdiff between two revisions, e.g., make DIFF=HEAD~3..HEAD provided both revisions contain the source file.

• COLOR: Control how colors are used in the output. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files.

  • always: Use colors.
  • never: Do not use colors.
  • auto (default): Use colors unless the output is piped.

• LINTS: List linters to be used by make lint. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files. The default value is LINTS = chktex, so it runs ChkTeX. One can add or overwrite the list, for example, LINTS += aspell or LINTS = hunspell textlint redpen.

• NODISTFILES, EXTRADISTFILES, ANCILLARYFILES: Control which files are included in tar-gzipped source files. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files. A tar-gzipped source file, foo.tar.gz for example, is created from the corresponding source file, foo.tex, and the dependent files. One can set NODISTFILES to exclude some of the dependent files from the resultant file. On the other hand, EXTRADISTFILES represents additional files to be included. The 00README.XXX file is also examined to determine additionally included files. Moreover, files listed in ANCILLARYFILES are copied to the anc directory inside the resultant file.

• MOSTLYCLEANFILES, CLEANFILES: Specify files to be deleted for make mostlyclean and make clean, respectively. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files.

• PREREQUISITE, PREREQUISITE_SUBDIRS, POSTPROCESS: Specify prerequisite and postprocessing tasks for documents in the current directory. Given on the command line or in the user configuration files. PREREQUISITE is a list of targets to be built before building documents in the current directory. PREREQUISITE_SUBDIRS is a list of targets in all the subdirectories required to build documents in the current directory. POSTPROCESS is a list of targets to be built after the completion of the building documents in the current directory.

Customization

The Makefile includes latex.mk (as well as .latex.mk) at the very end if exists. This file can be put in the user's home directory and/or the current working directory. It can be used for customizing the behaviour of the Makefile, for example, by setting TOOLCHAIN. For example, if you want to use the latex -> dvips -> ps2pdf toolchain instead of the default one pdflatex, then run the following command:

echo 'TOOLCHAIN = latex_dvips' >>latex.mk

See also the Wiki page for more customizations.